How a Unit Travels

To determine
how far a unit (in Mysticora this almost always means a "group")
can move per day I did research on that subject. For example, I
checked historic records, e.g. the speed of Roman armies is well
known, or how long Crusader armies took to reach the Holy Lands,
or how far the English and French armies moved per day during the
various campaigns during the Hundred Years war. Also, I considered
that individuals can move faster (there are also records on this).
On a theoretical basis of course the speed of army is determined
by the speed of its slowest unit.

For movement
through more adverse types of terrain I simply use a factor (e.g.
movement through hills might take twice as long, as compared to
grasslands which is used as a basis). Additionally, seasonal factors
would also slow down movement.

In total the
following parameters determine the speed of a unit:

the size
of a map square (i.e. for Mysticora it will be 20km x 20km)

the terrain
type (e.g. grasslands, hills, mountains, etc.)

the current
temperature level (as determined by season and climate zone)

the movement
modus selected (walk, fly, swim, sail, etc.)

the size
of the moving group

the movement
capabilities of the moving individuals as determined by their
race

the condition
of the moving individuals (above/below average constitution attribute
and current health)

the abilities
of the leader of the group

the abilities
of any scouts/guides (without such you incur a penalty factor of 1.5)

if the group
is overloaded

if the group
is moving especially cautiously, or is force marching

if the travelers
are sufficiently supplied. Each character/soldier needs 1 food per day.

A player will
give a group a command to move along the grid of squares by giving
a series of single step directions (see below) which the group is
supposed to take. The Mysticora program then during each day, if
nothing interferes, relocates the group to its new intermediate
or final coordinates, keeping track of any fractional movements.
This can all be done automatically. Specific weather on a day is
not considered, except for extreme weather forms such as violent
storms (for which there exists a certain small probability).

These are the
8 basic movement directions:

What happens
when players unexpectedly meet each other (or actually any NPC too)
during their moves depends on the behavioural parameters each players
has set for his units (e.g. "attack all orcs", or "flee from all
combat", etc.). Players should be aware of this though, and set
their parameters according to their priorities (i.e. do you want
to fight a lot?, or do you want to reach your destination point
by the end of the month?).

Units will not
be able to completely reroute their movement automatically should
they run into obstacles, as this would be too complex, and the units
might behave in ways the players wouldn't want them to. If a unit
is avoiding combat and wants to move through a square containing
a hostile unit it will instead try to sneak through. Remember that
in Mysticora squares are quite large representing 20km x 20km thus
allowing plenty of opportunity (especially if the terrain provides
cover and the groups involved aren't extremely large, e.g. many
thousands of men) to do so.

The travel
speeds of the various races should be taken from the module description
(e.g. Perditia). The travel
speed while mounted on a horse is about 3 areas per day. For areas
other than grassland (or sea) a factor will be applied reducing
the speed. Traveling on roads increases the effective speed
by a factor of 1.5. It is also important to note that the travel
speed fluctates somewhat randomly. Players should therefore take
this into consideration when calculating the travel times to their
destinations.

terrain factors to travel speed:

terrain
name

speed
factor

grassland

1

sea

1

forest

0.5

hills

0.5

mountains

0.125

marsh

0.125

wasteland

1

forest
hills

0.35

dense
forest

0.35

reefs

0.7

Movement calculation
can be done by adding up the time it takes to traverse each area
along the travel route. For this purpose take the inverse
travel speed and divide that with the above factor for terrain to
get the time needed to traverse a certain area. If moving through
that area diagonally then multiply that result with 1.5.
An example calculation:
The order shall be to move a train of horses: move("Horse Transport","132")
The route passes through the following areas: grassland, forest,
forest hills with road (moving diagonally here).
The (approximate) calculation is as follows:

The player calculates
two days for the horse transport to reach its destination. Although,
this might be a bit too close, since a bit of bad luck would bring
the needed time above two days. To be one the safe side therefore,
the cautionary player would figure in an additional day (for a total
of 3 days) before giving any subsequent orders.

Please note
that the above calculation is not the precise algorithim
used to calculate travel times. We do not consider it necessary
that players know to the last digit how long their travels will
take, since that would not be "realistic". Therefore,
players should not rely heavily on such calculations.

Also note that to use a mount you must equip (equip-order) your character's travel
equipment with the mount of your choice (e.g. horse, id #6).
If all travelers of a group want to use mounts, but this
would slow down the group as a whole (e.g. because the horses
would be overloaded), then nobody gets to use a mount.

Scouts/Guides: A scout or guide is usually necessary to find the way especially in a wilderness.
Therefore if you are *not* using a scout or guide in a wilderness then you will need
about 50% more time (use * 1.5 in above calculation).